Ex-GM chief Rick Wagoner to get millions less

Retirement pay slashed to $8.5 million

July 15, 2009|By TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICES

Former General Motors Corp. Chief Executive Rick Wagoner, who was eligible for more than $20 million in retirement pay under previous agreements, will receive at least $8.5 million over the next five years, GM said.

Wagoner, who was pushed out in late March by the Obama administration as part of the eventual bankruptcy of the Detroit-based automaker, will retire Aug. 1, the company said Tuesday in a regulatory filing.

He will receive $1.64 million annually in the next five years under an executive retirement plan, as well as $74,030 a year for life under a salaried-employee retirement program, according to the filing.

Wagoner, 56, also will receive a life insurance policy, which the company has maintained for his benefit since Jan. 1, 1997, or its cash value, now $2.57 million, GM said in the filing. He worked for GM for 32 years.

Wagoner's retirement package was one of the unanswered questions when the U.S. Treasury formed General Motors Co. from assets of the former GM last week as part of a 40-day bankruptcy process. After his ouster, Wagoner had remained on the payroll, earning a salary of $1 a year.

The original Wagoner pension under two retirement plans included a $68,900 yearly amount and five annual payments of $4.5 million, according to the company's annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 5.

The company in its filing Tuesday said that his executive retirement pay was lowered "consistent with the reductions in pension benefits of current GM retirees."